


Young Sinatra (life’s a bitch and then we die)

by cam_neo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Harry Potter, Journalist!Harry Potter, M/M, Mob Boss Tom Riddle, No character bashing, Quarantine hasn’t been good to me, Sane Tom Riddle, its a bunch of bullshit is what it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:35:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25123270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cam_neo/pseuds/cam_neo
Summary: In which Merope lives a bit longer and changes the world.Tom is the Dark Lord of the shadows, doing all his business in the seedy underbelly of the criminal wizarding underworld and Harry’s a young journalist with the (mis)fortune of always being in the wrong place at the right time.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Comments: 11
Kudos: 80





	1. Prophecies and other ridiculous notions

“We came from poverty,  
man we ain’t had a thing  
it’s alot of animosity  
but they won’t say my name”

Pop out (ft. Lil Tjay) - Polo G

—————————————————————-

“My Lord”

The voice came from behind him, the deep notes tinged with a slight uncertainty that immediately had Tom on edge. He gently closed the book he had balanced on his lap and took a breath, motioning for the other man to step forward while Tom stood to face him. He tried not to let his irritation show but knew it was obvious in the angle of his shoulders and the small frown that pulled at his lips. He was too tired to care about how he came across at that moment. He’d had a very long day and was looking forward to sitting in his study and relaxing but from the look on his friend's face, he knew that it would be a much longer night.

“Lucius my dear friend, I didn’t expect you so late in the evening. Have a seat.”

Tom gave a small wave of his hand and conjured an armchair for the other man before walking to the large cabinet across the room. He brought out two tumblers and set about making their drinks. He poured out three fingers each and resisted taking a swig from the bottle. It had been a long day. He passed one of the tumblers to Lucius who gave him a grateful smile in return. Tom noticed Lucius looked slightly more pale than his usual brand of translucency and his carefully styled hair had strands falling from its low ponytail.

Tom settled back into his chair and nodded at his friend to speak. Lucius took a drink of his whiskey before he went to talk. He spoke in a steady voice, but Tom noticed there was still a subtle note of uncertainty in his tone.

“My apologies for interrupting your night, my lord, but I have something that I needed to discuss with you as soon as possible. I bring news of a prophecy.”

Lucius paused here for effect and gave him an anxious look. Tom wanted to roll his eyes at the other man's antics. Lucius was an intelligent and powerful man but one of his biggest flaws was his flair for dramatics. It was a failing of his that was passed to him from his father, Abraxas. He lifted an eyebrow at his friend and raised his glass for a drink.

“A good friend of mine overheard the Headmaster of Hogwarts giving a job interview with a seer, and in the middle of the conversation, she gave a prophecy. It states that the one who will bring an end to your rule will be born soon - at the end of July, my lord.”

Tom wanted to laugh. “This couldn’t have waited for tomorrow’s meeting, Lucius?” He gave Lucius an unimpressed look and made to stand up. “If that’s all you needed to tell me, I think it’s best to call this a night. Let’s not continue this enlightening discussion tomorrow, dear friend.”

Lucius set his tumbler down on the small table between them and leaned forward in his chair. “you’re not worried?” Lucius asked. He gave Tom an incredulous look and made no move to leave. “After everything you’ve done? After every success you’ve made and everything you’ve built? You would risk it all by not taking this seriously?”

Tom scowled at the other man and what little color Lucius had fled his skin at the sight of Tom's anger. Lucius had pushed too far. Tom shifted slightly on his feet, turning away from where he was facing Lucius to walk to the nearest window. The glow of the fire was just bright enough to reflect Tom's face and he stared at his smooth, pale skin. The fire painted flickering shadows across his high cheekbones. He caught his deep brown eyes flashing crimson before he took a few breaths to reign his anger in.

“You dare?” He said in a quiet voice. Behind him, he could hear Lucius shift slightly in his seat. “I learned a long time ago not to place faith in destiny, that there is no such thing as fate. And even if that were not the case, Lucius, what would you have me do? Go after a baby? Kill a pregnant woman? Destroy a life that hasn’t had time to even begin living because a seer said so?

“I may be a cruel and ruthless leader, but even I have lines I won’t cross.”

Tom turned away from his reflection in the window to sneer at Lucius, who shrunk at his gaze and again shifted in his seat. Tom respected his friend, but he resented how easy it was for Lucius to forget himself. Tom had very little patience for disrespect, even from those he holds close.

Tom gave a deep sigh and rubbed at his budding migraine. His anger was starting to pass and in its wake was the bone-deep exhaustion one gets from a hard day's work, but without the rich satisfaction of actually accomplishing anything of importance. Tom walked back to the fireplace and sat in his chair across from Lucius. He eyed the blond for a few seconds before continuing.

“I respect that you are trying to protect me and everything I’ve accomplished. I thank you for that. However I will not cower before an unborn child, and I will not act irrationally or without thought based on the words of a simple seer” Tom paused with a look of disgust of his face. “A seer who was - for all you know - putting on an act so that she might pass the interview.”

Lucius met Tom's eyes and shook his head softly. He said in a quiet voice, “my deepest apologies my lord, I meant no disrespect. I only wish to convey the seriousness of this situation.”

Tom stood once more to pour himself another glass of whiskey and to give himself time to respond to Lucius. He stared into the amber liquor until finally turning back to face the other man. “I will think about what you’ve told me, Lucius. We will discuss this further at tomorrow’s meeting, but for tonight this conversation is over. I trust you can see yourself out, dear friend.”

Once Lucius had stepped from the study and out of his sight, Tom found himself relaxing from his tense posture. He let out a deep sigh and let his shoulders drop. Tom drained his drink in two quick gulps and collapsed into his armchair by the fire. He thought about what Lucius had to come to tell him.

Tom was in the habit of reaching for the intangible and realizing the impossible, but divination and fortune-telling were far too unrealistic for his sensibilities. Tom had never held much appreciation for Future Magic. He’d dropped divination almost as soon as he had started once he discovered that his teacher was absolutely insane and the subject absolutely worthless. One could only take so many death predictions in a single class period.

Tom wasn’t in the habit of dismissing an enemy or underestimating an opponent. However, it was difficult for him to believe a child born 50 years after him would grow to defeat him. Especially when given the information by a friend of a friend who heard the prophecy from eavesdropping on a job interview. Tom made a note to talk to Lucius about his ‘good friend’ at their next meeting.

Tom sighed at that thought, dreading the next day before it had even begun. He considered a vacation but didn’t pause to entertain the thought. He knew he’d come back to find his entire life’s work burning to the ground because a couple of employees couldn’t follow direct orders. He had already spent the entire day cleaning up a mess his muggle syndicate in London had made over their petty territory disputes. It was so very exhausting when dealing with those idiots.

A loud pop resounded through the room and broke Tom out of his thoughts. He looked down to see a house-elf peering up at him through her large, heavy eyelids.

“Gisette! A lovely dress you’re wearing my dear, are those the drapes from our guest bedroom?” He inquired, a fond tone sneaking into his voice.

Gisette just smiled up at him and pulled a small brown parcel from the air beside her. Tom laughed at her display of magic and took the package that he was handed.

“I take it our friends in Japan have given us their answer?” He asked, looking down at the package. Gisette smirked at Tom and tapped the parcel with one bony finger before disappearing away with a crack. Tom gave a small, sadistic grin which showed a bit too many teeth to be called a smile and looked down into the open package at the three, bloody fingers.

“Well, it seems I have a war to win”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Thank you for reading my crappy attempt at fanfiction! I haven’t written anything like this since I was a freshman in high school, so I have absolutely no clue what I’m doing or why. 
> 
> That being said I will accept any constructive criticism with open arms bc I really do need all the help I can get lmao I don’t have a beta can you tell? 
> 
> Anyways I wanted to explain a few things that probably won’t be apparent in the first chapter (but it took me like four hrs to write this so it might be a min before I write the next one) 
> 
> 1\. In this universe Merope decided not to take Tom Sr. off the love potions until after she had given birth, so she lived for a few more yrs and was able to teach her son a few things. I haven’t quite decided on how long she’ll have been in Tom’s life but I will go over that later in the fic. Just know that she was alive long enough to raise him into a different person, but he’s still a psychopathic, narcissistic pos bc that’s honestly just his baseline character and I didn’t wanna go too ooc. 
> 
> 2\. Bc Tom’s childhood was different (it was still difficult and turbulent just in new ways) he’s not gonna have the same reasoning and perspectives that cannon Tom did. Sorry lol I wanted to explore a more well-rounded and badass character than just an evil snake man. That means he’ll have a different take on immortality and the horocrux situation will be slightly different. He’s still gonna be immortal but I’m looking into ways to fit that in. I’m kinda tired of reading about horocruxes tbh so I want to go in another direction. 
> 
> 3\. I don’t like Snape and I didn’t want to write him in the very first chapter but don’t worry he’ll pop up. And I won’t bash him, he has his merits even if he’s a dick. 
> 
> 4\. Cool tidbit but Gisette means “God’s helper” and I thought that fit for her being Tom’s head house-elf. She’s mute and uses sign language when she wants to. She’s also a badass fighter and helps Tom on important missions bc she’s the only one he really trusts, which will be explained later! I have so many ideas you don’t even know.


	2. Tom needs a drink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did I edit this chapter? nope. 
> 
> Did I write this in two hrs while finishing off an entire bottle of cheap, grocery store wine? yes. 
> 
> Will I regret posting this tomorrow morning? Maybe.

“Ooh, I don't wanna hear nothing from you  
Fool me once but now I'm through  
Dealt the cards at hand, but who gon' lose?  
O-ooh, I think it's you”

STFU - Preston Pablo

—————————————————————

“This isn’t bloody working!”

Tom snarled as he slammed the map down before him. He was standing at the head of his dining room table, his inner circle stood loosely by his side. He felt a sharp wave of frustration and knew his eyes had flashed crimson at his outburst. It had been two months after the Hakui had sent their declaration of war and they were still no closer to destroying the smaller syndicate. Tom wanted to break something.

“If this task is too difficult for you, dear Bella, maybe it should be reassigned to someone a bit more competent?” He looked over at the woman in question who stood taller to meet his gaze. That was one thing Tom admired about her, she always met his eyes. 

“I apologize my lord, but for a group of dropouts they are surprisingly difficult to put down.” Bellatrix gave him an apologetic look that was only slightly tempered by the manic light that danced behind her eyes. As apologetic as she may be, Tom knew it would always be true that she loved a challenge. This rival group had certainly proved to be quite the challenge.

The Hakui was a smaller, magical sect of the Yakuza. They consisted entirely of Mahoutokoro students who had been dropped from the program after dabbling in the dark arts or other such ‘immoral’ magics. The elite school operated with a rigid code of honor, to break from the code meant exile. This mindset would inevitably make an impact upon even the most disgraceful of the Hakui.

Tom’s lips suddenly spread into a vicious grin as an idea formed in his mind. They had been approaching the entire situation from the wrong angle. The Hakui may be a small group of failed students, but they were once part of the single most academically accomplished school in the wizarding world. It was no secret that Mahoutokoro surpassed Hogwarts in its entirety, from academia to quidditch. Where they might be small in number they were large in power.

Much like their larger, more muggle counterparts the Hakui operated within a hierarchical familial system, with the head of the syndicate known as the Oyabun. Every member of the Hakui answered to their Oyabun.

“Cut off the head,” Tom spoke softly to his group, turning to face them fully. “And leave the body to flounder.” He laughed, unable to hide his mounting excitement, and caught the eye of several members of his council before turning away to look back down at the map.

“We’ve been going about this all wrong!”

Tom quickly conjured a quill and bent down to further mark dark lines of ink across the parchment. “Their main base is here,” he circled the depiction of a small block of office buildings in downtown Osaka. “While they have a few properties out in the rural Kansai areas, this is where they do the most of their business and where we have been focusing the brunt of our attacks.

“We seem to have greatly underestimated our opponents and it’s taken me far too long to realize. Instead of openly attacking their home ground, we need to slowly debilitate and destabilize them until they come to us.”

“You have a plan, my lord?” The gravelly voice came from his left side. Tom shot a glance over his shoulder at Nathaniel Nott, his head of security.

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Tom replied with a smirk. He pointed at two members of his inner circle who both stepped forward.

“Antonin, Barty. I need you two to locate the Oyabun and take care of him. I’ll ask Gisette to reach out to her contacts overseas and find his location. Do it in a manner that cannot be traced back to us or Britain as a whole. Understood?” Tom didn’t wait for them to reply before turning away.

“Lucius,” he called to the younger man. “I need you to reach out to our muggle contacts and propose that a few small sanctions be placed upon Japan. Nothing too obvious but make their pockets hurt just enough to be noticeable. Whisper in the ears of the ministry as well. I want the Hakui to be busy keeping their local economy from collapsing and therefore less worried about our little rivalry.” Lucius gave a nod and Tom turned back to Bellatrix.

“My dear Bella, while the Hakui are recovering from the loss of their Oyabun and the effects of our sanctions, I’ll need you to organize a few raids here and there. The goal is to take as many members down as you can. Destroy their morale. Can you do that?”

Bellatrix gave a wicked smile that displayed a row of sharp, pearly white teeth and purred. “Your wish is my command, my lord.”

“That’s why I love you, my dear,” Tom said, giving her an evil sort of smile. Tom looked back down at the map before he gave a single snap of his fingers to call his head house-elf.

He let out a small laugh when she appeared next to him. “Gisette, I adore your new blouse. Should I add kitchen towels to our shopping list?”

The house-elf in question shook her head and gave a small twirl to show off her hand-sewn clothes.

“Anyways, my dear. I have a task for you if you’d be so kind as to look into our friends from Japan? Their Oyabun is notoriously hard to find and I was hoping to utilize your more specific skill set.”

Gisette gave him a single nod of her head, her large ears flopped wildly with the movement.

“Now,” Tom looked around at his inner circle, “When the Oyabun is gone, the Hakui will eventually seek retribution. Our goal is that by the time the new head has taken the reins, his organization will be so completely chaotic that he won’t know where to begin or where to look for revenge. We back off on our outright attacks and implement a stronger strategy that relies on stealth.”

“Any questions?” Tom looked around at his people. When they had each given a single nod to show that they had understood he turned back to the map lying on the table. “That’s it for tonight then.” He dismissed them.

Tom didn’t look back as his inner circle said their farewells, choosing instead to again study the map before him. He needs to pick out which of the Hakui’s various countryside safe houses he would have Bellatrix raid. He also needs to find a way to mask her team's identity so that the raids wouldn’t be connected to him. Tom sighed, while it was nice to finally have a solid plan of attack, it seemed to him that the most grueling part of this ordeal was just beginning.

In the last two months, he had his followers focus on running the Hakui out of Britain, cleaning out their London based safe house, and personally visiting the various syndicates under his authority to make his contacts aware of the Hakui’s standing as an enemy.

Everything had gone well until it was time to eradicate the gang. While it was easy to push them from Britain, it was seemingly impossible to attack them in Japan. To make matters worse the Hakui had grown cocky with their success and had taken to attacking not only Tom’s people but the British ministry as a whole. Almost every day he had received reports of attacks on muggles and wizards alike. Last week a squadron of aurors had been ambushed, not a single one had made it out alive.

He was pulled from his thoughts by a small cough behind him and he turned to find his ministry advisor standing by the portrait of Tom’s late mother. She seemed to be napping in a chair by the fire, a glass of red wine held loosely in her slim fingers.

“Lucius, you’re still here,” Tom observed, eyeing Lucius a bit wearily. He knew what the other man wanted to discuss.

“Yes, my lord. I wanted to update you on the prophecy.” Lucius stepped away from the painting and gave Tom a strange look. “It seems that Dumbledore has sequestered away two families that he believes the prophecy to be about.”

Tom raised an eyebrow and gave Lucius his signature “and why do I care” look. He pulled out one of his dining room chairs and motioned for Lucius to do the same.

“I told you my thoughts on this matter months ago, Lucius. Why are you bothering me with this again?”

Lucius gave him yet another strange look and sighed. “It seems that Dumbledore wasn’t quite fast enough to hide the two families. The aurors that were ambushed last week? Alice Longbottom and James Potter? They were both parents to the two possible prophecy children. Dumbledore believes it was a targeted attack from you, my lord.”

“Oh.” Tom laced his fingers together and rested his chin upon them. “you think the Order will retaliate?”

Lucius gave Tom a nod and looked down at his lap. He gave a small shake off his head to steady himself before continuing to speak.

“I think it may be time to make a move on the Order, My Lord.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you for reading this, I hope you liked it. I've gone back and done some light editing, mostly for grammar and syntax. I'll probably be doing some other small changes here and there but for now I'm gonna focus on writing the rest of the fic. 
> 
> Some things in this chapter that bare explaining:
> 
> 1\. I used the Japanese word "Hakui" which (according to google translate, take it with a huge grain of salt) means "The white Robe." I used this phrase because the Japanese wizarding school, Mahoutokoro, gives each of its students an enchanted rode which change colors as the student learns. A robe will only turn white if they have been practicing dark magic or have broken the statute of secrecy. 
> 
> 2\. Everything about the Yakuza and basic geographical aspects of Japan I read online, if I've gotten anything wrong please let me know so that I can change it. I want to respect the cultures and the story that I'm writing about but I don't know much about them. 
> 
> Next chapter will be from Harry's pov and will feature a huge time skip. It's where the story really starts. I'm thinking about condensing the previous two chapters into one prologue, which would honestly be better - I don't really like how short both of them are. 
> 
> anyways, thank you again for taking the time to read this!


End file.
